World Water Day: A Solutions-Driven Workshop on Climate Impacts on Freshwater was co-hosted by CIFAL 91亚色 and the Office of the Provost, in partnership with the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, 91亚色. The event is part of CIFAL 91亚色鈥檚 In-Focus Knowledge Exchange Series for Nature, Climate, and People curated by Idil Boran.

The convenors of the workshop were , Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, CIFAL 91亚色 and Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, and , Associate Professor in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Provostial Fellow.

The event participated in World Water Day events, which have been held around the globe since 1993.

Professor Sharma observes that today, two billion people do not have access to clean water at home, while in Canada, more than 800 communities are subject to long-term drinking water advisories. Among communities that have not had clean water for more than ten years, two-thirds are Indigenous, characteristic of the inequitable distribution of fresh water in Canada and around the world. These facts frame the discussions for the workshop, bringing together concerns about access to fresh water and inequities within and across nations during an era of climate change.

Keynote speaker Professor Orbinski, Director of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, began with the observation that freshwater is precious. The contemporary narratives about our relationship with the natural world are inadequate, however, to the challenges we face, given shrinking freshwater supplies due to climate change and inequitable access to water. 鈥淲e need a different story about how we view ourselves, how we view our relation to each other and to the biosphere,鈥� Professor Orbinski emphasized, adding, 鈥淭his demands an understanding of the complexity of the hydrosphere and more broadly the biosphere within which all human life exists.鈥� We are now an urban population of close to eight billion people on this fragile earth. The impact of climate change and biodiversity loss is massive, making it very difficult to make accurate predictions about the consequences of these disruptions for the biosphere and human communities. We do know, however, that as climate change diminishes the access to freshwater, competition and conflict increases, as different communities struggle to secure water access for fishing, farming and other subsistence and cultural activities. To begin to address these challenges, Professor Orbinski argues, requires us to let go of tenacious ideas about human dominion over nature so that we may grasp the fundamental truth that, 鈥淲e are part of nature and we depend on nature for our very being and survival.鈥�

Professor Daniel Olago, Chair of the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, spoke about the continent of Africa, which holds 25% of the world鈥檚 surface water. Despite the abundance of freshwater sources, these have been negatively impacted by human activity, including deforestation and overfishing, as well as by climate change. Biodiversity suffers with cascading consequences. Flamingo populations in Lake Nakuru are decreasing, negatively affecting tourism and the economic health of the region, while in Lake Malawi, the loss of native fish leads to hunger and malnutrition among communities dependent on healthy fish stocks. Solutions are made complex by the dozens of political jurisdictions acting in lake areas and sectoral approaches to management, leading to poor coordination in addressing systemic challenges. An Integrated Lake Basin Management approach is required, Profesor Olago argues, bringing a holistic approach that balances conservation with sustainable development goals.聽

As Dr. Syed Imran Ali, Research Fellow at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, observes, floods and droughts are the spectacular face of climate change and its devastating effects on freshwater sources. Equally important, but less noticed, are changes to the quality of the world鈥檚 water due to contamination. Inadequate sanitation always poses risks to the quality of the water supply, but these risks are experienced unequally. Worldwide, rural populations and refugees displaced due to conflict and disaster experience acute difficulties in accessing clean fresh water. The consequence is the proliferation of deadly water-borne infectious diseases, like cholera, watery diarrhoea and hepatitis E. Preventing deaths means improving water quality through chlorination at the point of consumption, where World Health Organization 鈥渦niversal standards鈥� for chlorination are inadequate in many humanitarian crisis contexts. To improve water quality in refugee camps and similar contexts, Dr. Ali and his team have developed machine learning and numerical modelling tools that determine adequate levels of chlorination to ensure water remains safe. This is one example of solutions-driven research that responds to the challenge of providing clean water in crisis situations and that is now in use by seven major humanitarian organizations working around the world.

Dr. , Assistant Professor in Gender, Feminist and Women鈥檚 Studies and a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory, observes that water crises are not only outside of Canada, but affect many First Nations communities on lands claimed by the Crown. She warns:

鈥淭here is something happening beneath our feet. It will stop the rivers from flowing and the water from filling the lakes in the spring. We will lose our fish, our moose and our traditional ways of living鈥he water will be stolen鈥� All Canadians should be concerned, because the hunger of the oil industry has no limits. If we contaminate waters upstream, we contaminate all water downstream and the ecosystems upon which they depend.鈥�

If Indigenous nations have shown remarkable resilience, they have been impoverished by the colonial theft of Indigenous land and left traumatized by genocide, including the infamous residential school system that sought to extinguish Indigenous kinship and ways of knowing and doing. The oil industries step into this context, making false promises to Indigenous communities that feel they have few choices as they seek to recover the power and knowledges that colonial actors have forcibly wrested from them. Dr. Alook emphasizes that this must end now through the recovery of Indigenous sovereignty, especially taking up responsibilities towards the land: 鈥淎s long as the sun shines, as long as the rivers flow, let it be the sovereignty of our people that takes precedence over the capitalist and colonial theft of our lands鈥his is our land, this is our water, and let us be stewards of all that the Creator has bestowed upon us.鈥� 

Dr. Catherine Febria is Canada Research Chair of Freshwater Restoration Ecology at the University of Windsor. Dr. Febria describes the Healthy Headwaters Lab, which she directs, as seeking to 鈥渃onnect land, water and people for future generations鈥� using a decolonial, community-centered interdisciplinary approach. River restoration now involves billions of dollars worldwide but moving forward demands more than money 鈥� it requires coordinated actions at every level from the most local to the global. In coordinating, Dr. Febria emphasizes, 鈥淪cience matters, but so does communication if diverse communities are to be meaningfully involved in river restoration. Best practices foreground local involvement.鈥� In Canterbury in Aotearoa/New Zealand, M膩ori community members, farmers and community groups came together with scientists to create healthy rivers. 鈥淭he relationships come before the science鈥� Professor Febria observes, 鈥淚t鈥檚 about building trust by listening and mobilizing lived knowledge alongside science.鈥� 

Human and environmental health depends on clean fresh water. On World Water Day 2022, these researchers came together to emphasize the importance of holistic approaches that take up science in collaboration with those most immediately affected by the contamination of freshwater sites, including Indigenous and other communities marginalized from power and decision-making. New ways of doing science with diverse knowledge holders and new/old ways of understanding human relationships within the natural world are necessary, they emphasize, for freshwater to be restored and for the flourishing of all life in generations to come.

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Dr. is Assistant Professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women鈥檚 Studies at 91亚色. A member of Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory, her research focuses on the political economy of oil and gas in Alberta. She is a co-investigator on the SSHRC-funded (Partnership Grant) Corporate Mapping Project, where she completed research with the Parkland Institute on Indigenous experiences in Alberta鈥檚 oil industry and its gendered impact on working families. Angele is also a member of the Just Powers research team, a SSHRC-funded Insight Grant, enabling her to produce a documentary called Pikopaywin: It is Broken. Featuring stories on the land, Indigenous traditional land users, environmental officers, and elders bear witness to the impact that the fossil fuel industry, forestry and climate change has on traditional Treaty 8 territory. With Dr. Deborah McGregor, Osgoode Hall Law School and Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (EUC), Angele is co-investigator on the project, funded by 91亚色.聽

鈥淭he ways that bureaucracy deals with Indigenous peoples is to assign a group of experts to talk to us and the rest simply continue as they always have,鈥� observes Professor Alook. Government, often working hand in hand with corporations, together speak to Indigenous peoples. 鈥淏ut they do not consult us,鈥� continues Professor Alook, 鈥淣or do they respect their treaties with us.鈥� In the words of community Elders, the consequence is that the land that makes up Treaty 8 territory is now broken, devastated by oil and gas wells and the infrastructure that supports them.

In the film produced by Professor Alook, Pikopaywin: It is Broken, she speaks to Elders from her community who bear witness to the devastation that the oil industry has wrought. 鈥淲e care for the water. We care for the land. Because it is our diet, it is our livelihood,鈥� emphasizes Elder Albert Yellowkneee. Since the oil industry has destroyed much of the land that gives life and livelihood, Yellowknee fears that he is the last generation to experience the land in this way: 鈥淲hat about my children, my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren? Will they have a place to go out into the woods and meditate? Like we do?鈥� For Professor Alook, such conversations were difficult: 鈥淓lder Albert brought me and the film crew close to tears. Because he has a trapline, which has been in his family for many generations, and it has been literally cut down, destroyed, by the oil and forestry industry. He is no longer able to offer traditional, land-based teachings in the same way. We are no longer able to practice our treaty rights.鈥�

To create a future for the children of Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory means challenging the government, for its failure to respect treaty rights. This demands confrontation with corporations, who fail to consult with the Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory, much less respect Indigenous self-determination. If this is a very unequal struggle, it is a vitally necessary one. As Elder Verna Orr observes, 鈥淚f we have no trees, there is no life out there.鈥� And she continues, 鈥淢y hope is for people to stand together, pray together and be strong. And hopefully, the government and the oil companies will stop taking our trees.鈥� 

Pikopaywin: It is Broken is available through the website.

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Weisman is Professor Emeritus in the Law and Society Program in the Department of Social Science in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. 聽For the past two decades, his research has centered on exploring the interpenetration of law and moral regulation as well as the interrelationship between legal discourse and popular discourse.

Remorse and Criminal Justice: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives is a multi-disciplinary collection of essays that brings together original contributions on current thinking about the nature and place of remorse in the context of criminal justice. Despite the widespread and long-standing nature of interest in offender remorse, the topic has until recently been peripheral in academic studies. Weisman worked with co-editors Steven Tudor (La Trobe University, Australia), Michael Proeve, (University of Adelaide, Australia), and Kate Rossmanith (Macquarie University, Australia) to bring together a diverse array of contributors who are scholars from North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, South Africa and Australia, and from diverse academic disciplines. The resulting text reflects on the role of remorse in law, for better or for worse; on how expressions of remorse are affected by the legal contexts in which they arise; and on the impact of these expressions on the individual, the court and the community.

The book is divided into four parts 鈥� Part one, 鈥淛udging Remorse,鈥� addresses issues concerning the task of assessing remorse in the courtroom, usually prior to determining sentence. Part two, 鈥淩emorse Beyond the Courtroom,鈥� explores the place and significance of remorse in various post-court settings. Part three, 鈥淩emorse, War and Social Trauma,鈥� addresses remorse in the context of political violence and social trauma in the former Yugoslavia and South Africa. Finally, Part four, 鈥淩eflections,鈥漵eeks to underscore the multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary nature of the collection through personal and disciplinary reflections on remorse.

聽provides a showcase for how diverse academic disciplines can be brought together through a focus on a common topic. The book is available from Routledge and through聽.

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The DARE award offers Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies undergraduate students the opportunity to participate in research projects under the supervision and guidance of a faculty member from May to August. For Joanne Ong, who was selected for her sociology research project 鈥淐hina鈥檚 Urbanization in the Urban Age: A Scenic Approach,鈥� the four-month collaboration with LA&PS Assistant Professor Cary Wu was the beginning of a mentorship that would chart the course for the next phase of her academic career.

Having now completed her BA in sociology, Ong is pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in sociology at 91亚色 鈥� and still working closely with Wu, whose mentorship she says was instrumental to her decision to apply to graduate studies in the subject.

鈥淔rom DARE, I came to know that the desire to learn requires I be critical, persistent and focused on the experience, not just exposed to the material,鈥� Ong said after her participation in the program. 鈥淏y reconsidering my outlook, I was able to transform my learning strategies and develop a greater sense of curiosity.鈥�

As a DARE student, Ong had the unique opportunity to work with Wu and learn to engage with literature and understand the crucially important but difficult process of writing with data in a way that turns data-based conceptualizations and research into engaging storytelling that is cogent and clear.

Ong says by working under Wu, she also developed a number of soft skills from the professor鈥檚 effective feedback and guidance on her work. Working with Wu, she said, was one of the 鈥済reatest highlights and learning experiences鈥� of her undergraduate studies.

During her undergraduate studies, Ong also published an article in  that examined what makes in-person classes unique and different from online-learning. Through discussion, 14 students who connected with each other through Wu鈥檚 Research Methods sociology courses, identified seven main themes that outline why students prefer in-person instruction. A summary of the seven elements are outlined in this .

Ong and Wu have continued to collaborate on research during Ong鈥檚 graduate studies, and the 2020 DARE project has resulted in a co-authored review essay titled 鈥淎 scenic walk through Brenner鈥檚 New Urban Spaces in Toronto鈥� in the journal International Sociology where Ong and Wu use images taken in the city of Toronto to interpret and visually explain some of critical urban theorist Neil Brenner鈥檚 influential book . It was published in November 2021.

The research, says Wu, is about how to theorize the urban and urbanization process in today鈥檚 global urban age.

鈥淓verywhere is urban. How do we study the urban and urbanization process? We collect data through walking the city of Toronto and use photographs to explore the visible and hidden scenes of urban life,鈥� says Wu. 鈥淲e highlight the importance of focusing on all kinds of urban elements such as demographics, amenities, and activities as well as sounds and smell to capture the core meanings of urbanity and how they shape social life. The research encourages us to think of urban places as scenes.鈥�

Ong鈥檚 research interests also include the neighbourhood effect and inequalities across social categories of race and gender. Under the supervision of Wu, she is currently researching how the gender confidence gap varies throughout the life course using quantitative methods.

About DARE

The Dean鈥檚 Award for Research Excellence (DARE) was launched in 2017 to allow students to fully engage in a professional research project with one of our world-class faculty members. Learn more about this year鈥檚 projects and awards in this .

The 2022 DARE competition was announced Dec. 1. Faculty members interested in submitting a DARE project to work with a DARE student should complete the mach form for DARE research project postings (Stage 1) by Jan. 6, 2022 at 4 p.m.

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Canada鈥檚 stringent eligibility screenings for medical transition 鈥� to prevent 鈥渞egret鈥� or detransition 鈥� ignore transgender people鈥檚 gender-related perspectives and experiences, says 91亚色 Professor聽, lead author of a new study.

It鈥檚 impossible for anyone to know with 100 per cent certainty how they will feel after transformative medical interventions such as gender-affirming hormones, says MacKinnon. 鈥淪o, the common narratives that a trans person who detransitions is a failure, or is in a botched or medically harmed body, or was never really trans, reflect cisgender misunderstandings about trans people.鈥�

According to the study, 鈥溾�� published in the December issue of Elsevier鈥檚 Social Science & Medicine journal, there is little evidence that detransition is caused by medical failure, at the same time, clinical assessments suggest clinicians鈥� fear of liability.

The study highlights that the medical standards were created in the 1960s by cisgender doctors who largely feared lawsuits by patients seeking medical transition; and the eligibility checklists that health care providers use today are reflective of this history.

Another concern identified in the study is that some surgeons send their transgender patients for additional psychiatric assessments, and the psychiatrist acts as an added security blanket to assuage worries about transition regret and malpractice lawsuit. These practices erroneously cast transgender people as more 鈥渞isky鈥� patients, the study reveals.

Since transgender identity is conflated with mental illness, double standards in surgical decision-making arise, notes MacKinnon, who is in the School of Social Work, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. 鈥淐isgender women, for instance, are never required to get a psychiatric capacity assessment for breast implants. Cisgender men do not require a capacity assessment to have chest implant surgery. But transgender people have to go through 鈥榤ental readiness鈥� assessments.鈥�

The study also highlights that there are barely any quality peer-reviewed studies to substantiate the claim that regret/detransitioning is on the rise.

鈥淓ven if detransition rates are increasing, we don鈥檛 know the proportion of those who truly regret this outcome, versus those who have a positive outlook,鈥� says MacKinnon. 鈥淎dding to the problem are disproportionate media representations which amplify only negative or 鈥榬egretful鈥� detransition stories, while excluding detransitioners who experience their transition outcomes as neutral or even positive.鈥�

The research team included Florence Ashley, Faculty of Law and Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto; Hannah Kia in the School of Social Work, University of British Columbia; J. S.H. Lam, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; Yonah Krakowsky, Division of Urology, University of Toronto; and Lori Ross, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto.

Based on this research, MacKinnon is leading a follow-up study, which aims to develop better guidance for care providers who work with transgender, detransitioned and other gender diverse populations who stop transitioning or change the direction of their gender transitions.

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This year鈥檚 DARE recipients produced meaningful work across all disciplines offered in LA&PS. Over the summer, each student played an integral role in coordinating projects that added valuable scholarly inquiry to the social sciences, humanities, and professional studies.

Each recipient was awarded $5,000 and paired with faculty members to explore urgent research subjects, including health care, work policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital data collection practices, issues impacting diaspora communities and more.

To commemorate the experiences from this year鈥檚 competition, LA&PS developed a virtual gallery showcasing each student and the DARE Project descriptions of the instructor-led research objectives.

鈥淒ARE is a wonderful opportunity to nurture mentorship and collaboration between instructors and students,鈥� says Ravi de Costa, associate dean of Research & Graduate Studies. 鈥淭his year鈥檚 research projects demonstrate the range and quality of the work taking place in LA&PS. Our faculty is dedicated to supporting creative and impactful work across all of our disciplines, and the DARE competition continues to expand on these efforts.鈥�

For the award recipients, the projects serve as key stepping stones to future endeavours 鈥� whether in their respective fields beyond the university setting or continued academic research. Through their reflections, many of this year鈥檚 winners cited the unique hands-on experience as their favourite aspect of the process.

Fourth-year political science student, Kiana Therrien-Tomas, was pleased with the practical skills she acquired.

Looking back on the time spent working with Department of Politics Professor聽Simone Bohn聽on a project titled, 鈥淐ollaborating with the state: a double-edged sword? The Brazilian Women鈥檚 Movement under the Workers鈥� Party administrations,鈥� Therrien-Tomas explains, 鈥渢his experience has聽been聽a great addition to my learning and professional development. It is an聽honour聽to receive this award.聽I can now聽proudly聽state that I have taken part in all stages of the research process, and apply聽the knowledge gained from聽this experience towards the completion of my undergraduate degree and my聽endeavours聽in law school.鈥�

Fourth-year Disaster and Emergency Management student, Tiana Putric, echoed these positive sentiments when detailing the experience working with Department of Communication & Media Studies Professor Jonathan Obar on the DARE project, 鈥淭he Future of Big Data: Understanding Digital Service Data Retention Policies and Implications for Online Privacy.鈥�

鈥淒ARE聽was a transformative experience that left me with several new skills and insights,鈥� said Putric.聽鈥淚 gained experience collecting, analyzing, and summarizing聽data聽retention policies and contracts from global digital service providers, learned how to evaluate policies against privacy laws and normative regulatory philosophies, and contributed to the聽data聽retention body of knowledge.鈥�

In congratulating this year鈥檚 recipients, LA&PS Dean J.J. McMurtry was delighted to see how far the award has come.

鈥淭his competition offers an excellent opportunity for students to examine, discover, critique and create with leading researchers in their fields,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ver the past four years, DARE has exemplified the truly diverse and global scope of the research being done in LA&PS. Once again, our students have exceeded expectations.鈥�

The 2021 DARE gallery can be viewed on the聽LA&PS website.

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Most recently, the team published two articles, 鈥�,鈥� and 鈥�,鈥� based on their research focusing on volcanic risk assessment and emergency evacuation simulation, and visualization for the island.

Coincidently, the research is gaining attention and provides useful resources as the island鈥檚 volcano is becoming more active during the past month. On Nov. 22, the mayor of Vulcano, Marco Giorgianni,聽聽of nearly 300 people and banned tourists due to increased volcanic activity and gases near the La Fossa crater.

鈥淭his island hosts a number of active volcanic systems,鈥� says Asgary, an expert in disaster, emergency and business continuity management and associate professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. He explains the term 鈥榁ulcanian eruption,鈥� derived from the island of Vulcano, located in Sicily鈥檚 Aeolian archipelago, generally involves moderate explosions of gas laden with volcanic ash.

鈥淲e have been running annual emergency exercise training and field investigations on this island for more than a decade and have developed a number of risk assessment models, emergency evacuation simulations and virtual reality applications to help local and national emergency managers, and the public to better prepare for possible future eruptions,鈥� says Asgary.

The studies contain research focused on evacuation planning and management, representing a key aspect of volcanic crises. Evacuation is a very complicated decision process and operation when it comes to volcanos. Effective evacuation allows for the protection of people from hazards while minimizing potential impacts on the economy and livelihood.

One research article explains, the 鈥渁ssessment of evacuation scenarios that consider human and economic impact is best done in a pre-disaster context as it helps authorities develop evacuation plans to make informed decisions outside the highly stressful time period that characterizes crisis.鈥�

The team developed an intergrAteD VolcanIc risk asSEssment (ADVISE), focusing on two temporal dimensions that authorities must address in a volcanic context: short-term emergency management and long-term risk management.

鈥淥ur research team has done extensive analysis of hazards and vulnerability and the overall risks of volcanic activities in the island by creating various maps and models that can be used to identify high-risk areas regarding different volcanic hazards such as lava flow, ballistics, tsunami, ash accumulation, lahar, CO2 gassing and more,鈥� says Asgary.

The team鈥檚 ADVISE model addresses the potential physical, functional and systemic damage determined by combining the available information on hazard, exposed systems and vulnerability.

鈥淭hroughout this period, we have been working very closely with experts from Civil Protection Italy and the INGV (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) in particular. We have also worked with the local school and the community members to raise awareness,鈥� says Asgary.

The last eruption on Vulcano was more than 130 years ago and lasted from Aug. 2, 1888, to Mar. 22, 1890. Volcanic regions that represent tourist attractions and where tourists are allowed to go very close to hazardous areas are especially risky.

The island of Vulcano is home to nearly 800 permanent residents. During the midst of tourism season (April to October), the island could see up to 28,000 per month.

鈥淚t would be interesting to see which scenarios we have been examining during the past 10 years will unfold if an eruption occurs. Considering we are currently in the low season when the total population of the island is already low, and that the volcano鈥檚 activity is rising slowly, and by taking initial proactive measures, fortunately, we can minimize human impacts in case of an eruption. However, the impacts on the properties and infrastructure will remain to be seen if an eruption occurs,鈥� says Asgary.

In previous years, Asgary would invite two students from 91亚色鈥檚  program to join a group of international trainees and supervising professors to participate in a training program, to study the island and conduct field research. Students would learn about various volcanic hazards, vulnerability and risk assessment, emergency management and evacuation planning.

Asgary mentions any future visits and training on the island will depend on the type and length of the possible eruption.

By Alysia Burdi,聽YFile聽communications officer

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CIFAL 91亚色 is launching its first event, a knowledge-exchange dialogue, to strengthen multilevel action for climate, nature and people. Organized for Oct. 20 and 21, this international technical expert workshop provides the knowledge base for Professor Idil Boran to convene an official side event to the UN Climate Change Conference, , to a larger audience in Glasgow, Scotland.

CIFAL centres provide innovative training throughout the world and serve as hubs for the exchange of knowledge among government officials, the private sector, academia and civil society. CIFAL 91亚色, which will eventually have its home at the Markham Campus, is led by Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) Professor Ali Asgary, School of Administrative Studies, with Idil Boran, an associate professor of philosophy (LA&PS) who leads the Synergies of Planetary Health Research Initiative, an international and interdisciplinary research partnership at 91亚色鈥檚 Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research.

鈥淥ur inaugural event is synchronized with both the UN Biodiversity COP15 (Part 1), held online from Oct. 11 to 15, and the UN Climate Change COP26, held in person in Glasgow from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, and is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals,鈥� said Boran. Both the biodiversity and climate COPs were to be held in 2020 but had to be postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淲e are seeing heightened awareness on these planetary challenges, but the world is far behind on both crises,鈥� Boran said. 鈥淭ransformative change is needed at the level of policy, practices and mindset. Cities, regions, businesses and governments are making commitments, but what are these commitments? Are they being delivered? What are their impacts? How can they be scaled and elicit more commitments?鈥� Above all, Boran noted, commitments must respect the land rights of Indigenous Peoples. 聽

鈥淲e鈥檝e invited Canadian and international participants, both researchers and practitioners, to share knowledge and experiences and identify priorities for accelerating and strengthening multilevel joint action for nature and the climate by multiplicity of actors, while delivering the sustainable development goals,鈥� Boran said.

The event鈥檚 key message is that climate change is not a singular issue but is deeply interconnected with multiple planetary challenges.

鈥淲hen we talk about the biodiversity-climate interlinkages, we are also concerned about their impacts on human health, as well as wildlife and environmental health,鈥� Boran said. 鈥淭he climate and the biodiversity crises share root causes. Climate change worsens biodiversity loss, but protecting the ecosystem, if done right, can help respond to the effects of climate change.鈥�

The knowledge-exchange dialogue is by invitation only, although there will be a public plenary webinar at 11 a.m. on Oct. 21. The other sessions will feature panels for participants and parallel interactive discussion roundtables.

91亚色 President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton will deliver the event鈥檚 opening remarks. There will be a variety of sessions, including one on Indigenous nature stewardship and others dealing with agriculture, food and healthy communities, urban nature-based initiatives, oceans and coastal zones, and methodologies for assessing progress. The workshop will set the foundation for creating a working group toward a deliverable and will kick-start a series of dialogues.

鈥淚n addition to showcasing the workshop at COP26, we hope to create a working group with the aim of connecting the work being done locally and regionally to the global process,鈥� Boran said. 鈥淥ur official event in Glasgow is an opportunity to share the first insights from this workshop.鈥�

This event is organized by CIFAL 91亚色 with the collaboration of the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut f眉r Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), based in Bonn Germany, and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, based in the U.K., one of the partnering institutions for the side event at COP26 in Glasgow. At 91亚色, event partners are: 91亚色 International; the Office of Research and Innovation; the UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability; the Synergies of Planetary Health Research Initiative and Lab, with the support of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research; LA&PS; and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council exchange knowledge-mobilization fund.

鈥�91亚色 is pleased to support CIFAL 91亚色鈥檚 contributions towards advancing UN SDGs,鈥� said Vice-President Research and Innovation聽Amir Asif. 鈥�91亚色 researchers like professors Boran and Asgary are actively exploring planetary climatic and environmental change with particular emphasis on biodiversity, reducing Canada鈥檚 overall carbon footprint and building sustainable energy sources of the future. This knowledge-exchange dialogue and the followup official event at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow helps us in achieving our goal of forging a just and equitable world.鈥�

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The COVID-19 pandemic exposed large gaps in sickness and caregiving leave provisions available to workers across the country. To make up for these shortcomings, federal, provincial and territorial governments had to introduce a suite of emergency income-support programs and job-protection laws. With these temporary measures set to expire in coming months, a聽聽by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) calls for permanent reforms to provide access to short-term paid and protected sickness and caregiving leaves to all working Canadians.

In their IRPP study, co-authors Eric Tucker and Leah Vosko, both 91亚色 professors, recommend that workers be eligible for 15 days of paid leave to cover both sickness and caregiving needs, which would bring Canada in line with its international peers.

鈥淭his is very much in keeping with employment standards seen elsewhere around the world. In fact, Canada is a laggard in this regard; we have a lot of catching up to do,鈥� says Vosko. 鈥淧rior to COVID, less than half of workers in Canada had access to employer-provided paid and protected leaves.鈥�

As was shown during the pandemic, when workers decide not to take time off because of inadequate leave protections and benefits, it can have major repercussions 鈥� not just for those individuals and their employers, but for society at large. Sick people who go to work can spread infection to their co-workers. In addition, neglecting one鈥檚 health can lead to longer absences, more serious problems and lower productivity.

The authors also emphasize that women are disproportionately affected by inadequate paid sickness and caregiving leaves, based on evidence that women are more likely to be primary caregivers and to be in precarious jobs, as are racialized workers or recent immigrants.

鈥淣ow is the time to change our leave regimes,鈥� says Tucker, adding that separate measures will be required for the growing numbers of self-employed workers who are currently without any coverage.

鈥淥nce the pandemic-response measures expire, the old rules that forced sick workers or those with caregiving responsibilities to decide whether they could afford to take time off from work will once again prevail. Governments at all levels need to act now to permanently redesign their short-term protected sickness and caregiving leave regimes.鈥�

The study, 鈥�,鈥� can be downloaded from the聽.

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The Barbara Godard Prize for the Best 91亚色 Dissertation in Canadian Studies recipient is Andrew Zealley, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change (EUC), for 鈥�.鈥� The recipient of the Odessa Prize for the best undergraduate paper in a fourth-year course is Emily Belmonte for 鈥淯nderstanding Treaty One: Subsistence and Survival 1871-1888.鈥�

The Barbara Godard Prize

Zealley鈥檚 work maps the artistic response to the complex and contradictory experience of living with HIV-AIDS within the Toronto gay community. He uses audio, video and writing to argue for experiential and situated knowledges as forms of HIV management and prevention.

鈥淚 want people to understand that pleasure is possible; pleasure is within grasp if we can learn to let go of 鈥� or refuse 鈥� institutionalized mandates around sex and intimate relationships,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 want people to find ways to talk about their personal health goals during sexual moments, to integrate sexual health talk into sexual play. I hope that people will better understand, through my work, the insidious role that gentrification plays in our pleasure lives. Homogeneity poisons imaginations and desires.鈥�

The prize adjudication committee praised his research for exposing the underlying tensions between art and scholarly practice as processes for understanding this experience, by sourcing material often inaccessible or undervalued by institutional research. Overall, the committee noted the thesis provides a timely reminder of the numerous social discourses that continue to pathologize HIV-AIDS.

Zealley is currently working on multiple projects, both in an artistic and academic capacity. He is part of the Wetrospective exhibition at the AGO this month and has a new vinyl LP record, The Magic of the Think Machine Gods, releasing in October. He is also working on research projects with EUC graduate Peter Hobbs and Nick Mul茅, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 School of Gender, Sexuality and Women鈥檚 Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS); and participating as a video maker in 鈥淰iral Interventions,鈥� a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and overseen by EUC Professor Sarah Flicker and Associate Professor John Greyson of 91亚色鈥檚 School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD).

The Odessa Prize

Belmonte鈥檚 essay was completed under the supervision of Professor Sean Kheraj (Department of History, LA&PS) as part of the fourth-year Honours Thesis Seminar (HIST 4000). Her honours thesis focused on interpreting Treaty One (with the Chippewa and Cree Indians of Manitoba) and examining the events leading up to the signing, as well as the immediate aftermath in the 1870s.

鈥淐anadians should not only be interested, but they should feel a sense of urgency to learn about the history of the land they are privileged to live on and how its first people were treated so shamefully at the hands of the government,鈥� says Belmonte. 鈥淐anadians need to understand the treaty-making period, how we are all treaty people, and how there were very specific promises and rights granted to Indigenous people during the treaty process that were never upheld in a very deliberate process in order to secure land acquisition and pave the way for agrarian settlement.鈥�

The prize committee recognized her work as a thoughtful and well-considered synthesis of scholarship on the history of Canada鈥檚 colonial expansion into the northwest. The committee noted the thesis is exceptionally well-organized and well-written, and demonstrates great care and sophistication in sorting out the layers of events and meanings surrounding this critical moment in Canadian history.

Belmonte is entering her final year at 91亚色 and aims to graduate in June 2022 with a degree in both history and education. She plans to become a teacher with her certification to teach at the primary and junior levels, 鈥渂ut one day I may also consider teaching history at the senior and intermediate levels as well,鈥� she says.

The work of both prize recipients was nominated by the Robarts Centre for the . Belmonte鈥檚 essay earned the Best Canadian Studies Undergraduate Essay/Thesis Prize and was noted for being well-written and carefully documented, and was highlighted as an example of undergraduate scholarship of very high quality, according to the Canadian Studies Network in their congratulatory email.

Zealley and Belmonte were both interviewed about their work by the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. Read those reflections .

About the prizes

The Barbara Godard Prize for the Best 91亚色 Dissertation in Canadian Studies, which has been awarded annually since 2012, is named in memory of Professor聽Barbara Godard, former Avie Bennett Historica Chair of Canadian Literature and former professor of English, French, social and political thought, and women鈥檚 studies at 91亚色. The Odessa Prize for the Study of Canada, first awarded in 2011, was established through the generosity of 91亚色 alumnus聽Irvin Studin聽(BBA Schulich, PhD Osgoode Hall Law School), who dedicated the award to his parents who hailed from the famous port city of Odessa, Ukraine. Learn more about these prizes at聽.

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